Attaching means for removable dentures.



J. A. McAULEY. ATTACHING MEANS FOR REMOVABLE DENTURES.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 4, 1918.

Patented Mar. 11,1919;

2 SHEETSSHEET ll. A. McAULEY. XTTACHING MEANS FOR REMOVABLE D ENTURES.

APPLICATION FILED HAR- 4, 1918.

Patented Mar. 11,1919.

I such dentures justed as required JOSEPH A.

MCAULEY, OF WEST NEW YORK, NEW JERSEY.

ATTACH-ING MEANS FOR REMOVABLE DENT-UBES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Man. 11, 19.19.

I Application filed March 4, 1918. Serial No. 220,386.

To all whom. it may concern Be it known that I, JOSEPH A. MOAULEY, acitizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at 443 21ststreet,-.West New York, N. J have invented a new and useful tachingMeans for Removable Dentures, of which the following is a specification.

This invention dentures and the general objects of the invention are toprovide simple, practical and thoroughly satisfactory means-for securingin place.

"A special obj ectof-the invention isto pro vide a form ofattachingmeans which will hold the dentures securely inplaceand which. at thesame time will permit of the ready removal of the dentures.

In this connection it is the aim of my invention to provide a denturesupporting or attaching means which can readily be adjusted tocompensate for wear and to meet particular requirements. 1

Briefly stated, the invention comprises a base member, which isusuallystationary, as by being secured fast to an abutment or the like, and anattaching member, which is usually carried by the denture and.'isconstructed for engagement with the base member, said base member havingan outstanding headed portion in the nature of a rail and the attachingmember being'of tubular conformation to fit over said rail portion andhaving a flange or flanges .tobear upon the base member. frictionalengagement with the base assist in holding the denture removably inplace and furthermor provide a means bywhich the attaching member canreadily be adjusted to fit it to the base.

Another feature of the invention is the provision of a special form ofstop for limiting the engaging movement of the cooperating members andwhich can readily be adto meet different conditions.

A further feature is the slotting of the tubular attaching member onopposite sides thereof to provide localized sections which may becrimped together to exert a binding force upon the base member when thetwo members are assembled.

Other features of the invention and the details of construction willappear as the specification proceeds and will be made clear hasreference to removable These flanges by their from consideration oftheaccompanying drawings-which illustrates the invention embodied in;practical commercial forms.

In said drawings- Figure 1, is abroken perspective view illustrating theinvention. as applied to@ the mounting of a denture in the form of abridge.

2' and: 3 are detail perspective views ofthe two coiiperating members ofthe device.

Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view of said members in assembled relation.

Figs. 5 and 6 are detail perspective views of the two cooperatingmembers of a modified form of the device.

Flg. 7 is aplan view of said: engaged relation.

Fig. 8 is a longitudinal sectional view of the same substantially on theplane of line 8-8 of Fig. 7

Fig. 9 is 'a cross sectional view thereof substantially on the plane ofline 9--9' of Fig. 8.

Fig. 1.0 is a view of the tubular sleeve member, looking at the openside thereof.

The base member of the device consists of asomewhat flattened baseportion 5, which is usually slightly concaved at the back as indicated,to substantially fit thecurvatureof abutments or other element's-such asthose indicated at 6- and 7 in Fig. 1, andan out standlng headed portion8, in the nature of a rail, which a narrowed or reduced neck portion 9.This supporting head 8 is preferably formed" integrally with the base,the two being usually rolled as an integral piece of stock which issubsequently cut to proper lengths to fit the work in hand. i

The securing or attaching member is of generally tubular construction asindicated at 10, shaped to fit the supporting head relatlvely closelyand open along one side as lndicated at 11 to permit ofsaid member belngslidably engaged longitudinally over the supporting head with atelescopic movement. This longitudinal slot or opening 11;, in the sideof the tubular attaching member constitutes a throat receiving andclosely members in fitting the neck 9 of the base member. Laterallyoutstanding longitudinally extending flanges 12 are shown provided atthe opposite edges of the slot or opening in the side is connected withthe base by,

' acte'r which the ting into the seat of the tubular attachingmember,said fianges in the illustration, frictlonally engaging the face of thebase at opposite sides of the supporting head. In addition to providingthis frictional engagement with the base member, these flanges reinforcethe edge portions of the open-sided tubular attachin member andfurthermore provide grips which may be readily engaged by a pair ofpliers or the like for the purpose of adjusting the attaching member tothe base menu her. It has been found that these fittings wear more orless with use and this wear may be compensated for by simply pinchingtogether the opposite edges of the attaching member. These outstandingflanges provide a firm hold by which such edges may be gripped by a pairof pliers or the like, thereby facilitating the necessary adjustment andenabling the parts being maintained in effective engagement at alltimes. i In the second form of my invention illustrated in Figs. 5 to 10the tubular attaching member is shown as slotted longitudinally at l3,onopposite sides thereof, just in rear of the outstanding flanges 12, tolocalize portions 14 at opposite edges of the throat in the side of themember, which can then be readily crimped or' pinched together more orless, as indicated at 15, to exert a certain binding tendency upon thebase member. This construction 'enables the attaching member beingadjusted to closely fit the base member intermediate its ends, whilefitting the base member relatively loosely at the opposite ends thereof.This allows of a certain rocking motion corresponding more or less tothe movement of this chartioning. As wear occurs it will be obvious thatthese localized sections at the edges of the attaching member may beeasily adjusted to bring about a proper engagement of the two members.

Under certain conditions itis desirable to limit the engaging movementof the two members, for instance, in the case illustrated in Fig. 1,where it may be necessary to limit the movement of the denture towardthe gum. In time however, the parts may recede, making it desirable tolower the denture farther toward the gum. The form of stop illustratedin Figs. 5, 7, 8 and 10 has been designed to meet such conditions andcomprises a stop element 16 in the nature' of a bar at the upper end ofthe attaching member connecting opposite edge portions of said attachingmember, this sto bar fit or recess 17 providbd in the top of the basemember between the base and head portions thereof. ..The stop bar by itsengagement with the bottom of this seat limits the movement of thedenture toward the gum, but it it becomes necessary at any time to lowerthe denture this may be easily cal, square, or

natural teethhave'in 'funcrest nee accomplished-by cutting down the seatto the necessary extent. The seat isshown formed in the narrowest orneck portion of the base member, making the cutting down of the seat asimple matter. Another point about the seating or" the stop bar in arecess behind the head of the base member is, that this form ofengagement has a tendency to cause the tubular attaching member to hugor be drawn more closely into engagement with said head portion. v

It will be apparent that the supporting post or base member may be madeof elliptiangular shape in cross section instead ofthe circular formshown, the tubular attaching member in such case being made ofcorresponding shape so as to closely fit the same and it will beunderstood further that other changes may be made without departing fromthe true spirit and scope of the invention. My invention contemplatesthat the post member instead of being made of solid metal as shown, maybe stamped to shape from sheet metal. This is less expensive and hasother advantages in that the posts may be made more accurately to sizeand they possess a certain spring quality. A stamped sheet metal postfurther, has the advantage that by reason of the fact that it is hollow,and an instrument may be inserted therein to expand a portion thereofinto frictional binding engagement with a particular portion of thetubular attaching member engaged thereon.

I claim;

1. Denture supporting means comprising, in combination, a headedsupporting element and a tubular attaching element engageable thereover,said tubular attaching element being longitudinally slotted in oppositesides thereof and having portions adjacent the slots and separated bysuch slots from the body of the element crimped together to exert abinding efi'ect upon the headed supporting element.

2. Supporting means for removable dentures comprising, a headed suporting memher, a tubular attaching mem r open along one side thereofand slidably engaged over the headed supporting member, said tubularmember having narrow and stifi' lateral flanges at opposite edges of theopen side thereof and being slotted longitudinally in rear of saidflanges to; separate said flanges for a part of their length from thebody of said member.

3. Supporting means for removable dentures comprising, a base and anoutstanding headed supporting rail carried thereby, a tubular attachingmember "engageable over the said headed rail, a stop on the end portionof the tubular attaching member for en-. gagement with the supportingmember, said supporting member having a recess therein located betweenthe base portion and the en- I larged head portion thereof to receivesaid stop.

4. Attaching means for removable dentures comprising, a base plate and aheaded rail carried thereby, said member having a seat therein betweenthe base and rail portions thereof, a tubular attaching member openalong one side thereof to slidably fit over the headed rail, outstandinglateral flanges at the opposite edges of said side of the tubularattaching member, and a stop bar connectin the opposite edge portions ofsaid open side enga eable in the seat aforesaid, said tubular attac ingmember being longitudinally slotted in opposite sides thereof and havingopposed edge portions at the open side t ereof crimped together open thetubular member may to 1exert a binding. eflect upon the headed rai 5.Supporting means for removable dentures comprising a base and anoutstanding headed supportlng rail carried thereby, a tubular attachingmember engageable over said headed rail and open along one sidethereof,and relatively narrow and stiff laterally outstanding flanges extendingalong the edges of said opening in the side of the tubular member toprovide means by which be gripped for the urpose of adjusting saidmember and to reinforcesaid memberv for maintaining it in suchadjustedcondition.

JOSEPH A. MGA LEY.

